The Disorganized Novelist: Getting Things Done Anyway

How are you at getting things done? If you’re anything like my friends (and me) you struggle.

As you may know, I’m currently writing the third book in the clean Regency romance series, The Eardleys Of Gostwicke Hall. (Cover reveal soon.)

I’m using a bullet journal for the novel, as discussed:

… I decided to use my BuJo just for my novels, and it’s working like a charm. It’s helped me to stay confident that I’m on-track, no matter how many changes I make in first drafts.

But a couple of weeks ago I realized I needed MORE. With book 3, I’m losing track of plots and characters in the other two novels, and find myself constantly rereading, when I should be writing.

My new “getting things done” discovery: Airtable

I may have found a solution, Airtable. Yes, there’s a learning curve. In some ways, Airtable reminds me of Trello, which is very useful, but Airtable is more powerful.

Before a work colleague recommended Airtable when she heard about my woes, I’d considered creating a series “Bible” in Excel, but wonderful as Excel may be, I’ve never had much luck when using it to organize fiction.

The big benefit of Airtable is that it syncs with every device you own in real time — and it integrates with Evernote, Slack, Box, and hundreds of other apps. This means that it’s easy to browse my book journal notes in my lunch hour, and when I’m relaxing watching a DVD with my family.

Even though I’m a complete Airtable novice, here are a couple of tips I’ve found to get up to speed with it — Airtable’s helping me in getting things done already.

By the way, if you’re wondering about pricing, the app is free for 1,200 records; I don’t think I’ll go over that number for months. Even if I do, for what it does, the app’s pricing is reasonable.

1. Take your time: watch the videos

Admittedly, I watched the first video and jumped right into my first Workspace. And got hopelessly confused. So, today I’ll be watching the Learning Airspace videos, because I’m seeing more ways in which Airspace can help, not only with writing, but also in marketing and promotion.

2. Check out the (many) templates

Airtable has hundreds of templates, for many different uses. Yes, the uses are primarily for business, but also for everyday things:

• Buying a car;
• Gift ideas;
• Pets’ medical history;
• Wedding plans…

I even found a handy template for novel planning, which I’ve modified so that I can track my characters over the series.

I’ll be reporting on my adventures with Airtable going forward. If you’re having challenges with getting things done you may find the app useful too.